Marshall Goldman, Katherine Wasserman Davis Professor of Russian Economics at Wellesley College (Emeritus), associate director of the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard University; Uri Ra’anan, director of the Institute for the Study of Conflict, Ideology, and Policy, and professor of international relations at Boston University.
Thursday, March 22
6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Old South Meeting House
Russia is reemerging as an international power—as strong as in czarist or Soviet times—and President Vladimir Putin shows troubling tendencies of reverting to authoritarian and imperial habits. Russia recently overtook Saudi Arabia as the world’s leading producer of oil, and it has demonstrated a clear willingness to flex this muscle on the world stage. Within its own borders, corruption, contract killing, and media censorship have become routine. Should we regard this nation as a threat to the West, or as an ally? How does its use of energy supplies as an instrument of foreign policy affect global markets? In a country that historically lacks a mechanism for legitimate succession, what should we expect as Putin steps down in 2008? Tonight, two renowned scholars Prof. Marshall Goldman and Prof. Uri Ra’anan, join us to explore the impact of the Kemlin’s concentrated political power in an age of booming oil and gas wealth.
This program is presented in collaboration with the Old South Meeting House as part of the Partners in Public Dialogue Series.
